About NC (Nonconformance) Type and days for CA (Corrective Action) Response...

[somashekar]

I know that the audit NC's of CB are type Major or type Minor and that the Minor gets a 30 days time for a CA plan, while the Major gets a 10 day time for a CA plan. Hope I am right.
Now what logic holds that a Major NC gets less time than a Minor NC to put an effective CA plan in place.

 

[qusys]

Re: About NC type and days for CA response...

I know that the timing for Major and Minor is different from CB and CB.
For Major it is also needed a correction to prevent the shipment of nonconforming product to the customer or sustain the sanity of QMS processes and their control.
Probably the logic is in the severity of the issue raised up.

 

[insect warfare]

I know that the audit NC's of CB are type Major or type Minor and that the Minor gets a 30 days time for a CA plan, while the Major gets a 10 day time for a CA plan. Hope I am right.
Now what logic holds that a Major NC gets less time than a Minor NC to put an effective CA plan in place.

I don't have CB experience, but my logic is that the major NC is more severe in nature (total process breakdown), and the risks with allowing a major NC to exist are definitely far greater than a minor NC or even a few minor NC's. Thus naturally, the pressure on eliminating the causes of that major NC should be greater.

Brian

 

[Javiddemexico]

What are good examples for major and minors NC?

 

[Del Foster]

I know that the audit NC's of CB are type Major or type Minor and that the Minor gets a 30 days time for a CA plan, while the Major gets a 10 day time for a CA plan. Hope I am right.
Now what logic holds that a Major NC gets less time than a Minor NC to put an effective CA plan in place.

Registration auditors are required to classify audit findings as minor or major based on a set of criteria that is often mistakenly applied. First or second party auditors have no obligation to make such distinctions so why subject yourself to such potential liabilty? Dream teams of lawyers love to find such "mistakes" in evidence. Apply actions that are appropriate to the effects of the condition noted every time as the standard for corrective action implies and avoid any confusion.

 

[drgnrider]

What are good examples for major and minors NC?

I received one major on my Stage-1 Environmental audit (ISO-14001), reason cited was "Human Health". For spill clean-up, area supervisor said they would "contain the spill" when the posted manufacturers-instructions, right above the container, said "evacuate and ventilate".

 

[insect warfare]

What are good examples for major and minors NC?

If you're talking internal audits, then there are none. Either something is conforming or it is not. The actions taken to eliminate the root cause of that "something" should be evaluated for effectiveness through your own internal processes - I would leave grading to the CB's.

On a related note - I have witnessed many customer audits and never once did they refer to anything they found as a "major" or "minor" - they simply informed us what they found that we needed to correct, and gave us a timetable to fix those issues, based on severity or sometimes just based on gut. From a customer's standpoint (at least the ones I've been involved with), they really don't invest too much of their time calling NC's "this or that" but they are nevertheless cognizant of the risks encountered, should those issues continue to remain unaddressed.

Brian

 

[Del Foster]

I would appeal any finding reported at stage 1 as areas of concern should be defined at that time giving you the opportunity to correct those items before stage 2.

 

[drgnrider]

I would appeal any finding reported at stage 1 as areas of concern should be defined at that time giving you the opportunity to correct those items before stage 2.

IMO, the finding was correct, and there was a little more to it. The root cause of this ultimately caused a long-term project that was on the planning board to be initiated sooner. The immediate fix was able to get it downgraded to a minor on the Stage-2.

8-1/2 months after the finding and the project has just entered the initial testing phase, not ready for general release.